Looking forward
We continue to work on access and participation, and would like to share our plans with you for the forthcoming year.
Access and Participation Plan
The Access and Participation Plan (APP) is a regulatory document that focuses on Risks to Equality of Opportunity – challenges that may limit students from certain backgrounds reaching their full potential.
In November 2024, Loughborough received approval for its new APP from 2025/26 to 2028/29.
Through an analysis of our data and consultation with students, we have identified key priority areas and created five Intervention Strategies (groups of activities) to address these challenges.
Four of the intervention strategies relate to how to students can access and succeed at the university, whilst the fifth strategy addresses culture and belonging across the whole student lifecycle and student experience:
We look forward to continuing with many existing programmes whilst also expanding some initiatives and launching pilot activities that we have committed to deliver in our new Access and Participation Plan – watch this space.
Evaluation
We believe that effective, robust, high-quality evaluation is key to increasing the impact of our access and participation initiatives.
Our approach facilitates a culture of learning, reflection and improvement and is underpinned by theories of change and evidence-based practice. We employ a wide range of evaluation methodologies and mixed methods, and ensure that evaluation is proportional and embedded in our work.
We will continue to grow and invest in our evaluation capabilities and look to work with more and more colleagues across the institution. If you are interested in getting involved, we would love to hear from you.
Evaluation showcase
In January, the university successfully won a tender to collaborate with The Centre for Transforming Access and Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO).
The focus of this collaboration was Loughborough’s Positive Intervention Referral Scheme, which reaches out to students with low attendance and attainment to proactively offer support and signposting, and is a key activity for the University in addressing degree outcome gaps.
The collaboration developed an enhanced Theory of Change (PDF) and a comprehensive evaluation plan (PDF) for the scheme, and attempts to establish causality between the outcomes we aim to see and the scheme.
Our project with TASO represents a new standard in the sector and an aspirational approach for our other activities, due to the involvement of multiple stakeholders, including students and colleagues from the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical and Manufacturing Engineering, School of Science, Student Success Academy, Enhanced Academic Practice and Access and Participation.
Results of the evaluation will be used to guide how the scheme can be expanded beyond its pilot in the Wolfson School and the School of Science.
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